I will NOT mention the "S" word...

As in "snow." I won't mention the absolutely gorgeous days we had Thursday and Friday, in the upper 70's. I won't mention the cool down over the weekend or the snow that we woke to yesterday morning. I will only comment on the beautiful day we have right now and hope it warms up a little more (though not to the heat wave some of you are experiencing!).

Ahem.

Moving on, Olivia loooooves the ball pit at My Gym. She loves to sink into it and play with the balls. So when I saw a blow up pool at Toys R Us for $12, I thought it would make a great ball pit, plus we can use it later in the summer with water. Toys R Us was sold out of balls and I had to go to 2 other toy stores to find some, but we finally did. (I know it needs more, but I'm waiting on the MUCH better deal at TRU). She was pretty excited:





She also loves chewing on the balls, which wouldn't be a big deal, except for the fact that I have 2 babies during the week. Avry soon discovered the joys of chewing on the balls, too, so I now have a "slobber" bucket. As soon as one drops a ball they've been chewing on, it goes in the bucket to be washed later. It's actually been helpful, as I was trying to remember who was chewing on what toy in the past. Exciting life I lead, don't be jealous!



Still working on standing...





And crawling. Almost there!

I'm not sure what it is about Spring that brings out my creative side. I have several "projects" going on right now. Ranging from hair bows for Olivia (her hair is always hanging in her eyes without a clip), embroidering onesies, tutus, several knitting/crocheting projects, scrap booking, and (of course) playing with my camera. Nap time isn't nearly long enough for me to work on all this! I'm hoping to finish bows, onesies, and tutus this week. The other projects are ongoing. Maybe I'll have a "Yay, I finished my crafts" post soon. (I can see the excitement on your face!)

Here's a few from my new camera. I was trying out a different mode.





Sundown is such a great time for pictures- except when you have a cranky baby!



What a face!

The Great Meltdown

This is what it looked like late Saturday afternoon:





It started warming up Sunday, but we still had to dig out of our driveway before church. Here's a glimpse of how drastic the weather changed- I took this Monday afternoon:



Yep, that's Liza and Landon playing outside in their bathing suits! Plenty of water with all the melting snow!

Watching the water run down the street:



Landon turned 3 Sunday and we were invited to watch him open his gifts. What excitement! We love our neighbors, can you tell? :)

Helping Daddy open the mail:



She didn't do as well in the nursery at church this week. They didn't page me out of the service, but she was crying when I went to get her (she was crying when I left, too). They told me she "didn't cry the whole time." Hmmm. Not sure what changed from last week. At least she looked cute:



I figured Sunday was her last chance to wear that dress!

We don't have Avry on Thursdays, so it's our day to sleep in. I remember when sleeping in meant 10:00 a.m.(OK, 11:00 some days...). A nice leisurely morning, catching up on sleep. I pried an eye open when I felt little feet kicking my back this morning- 8:15. I rolled on my side and kept my eyes closed, hoping she would take the hint and go back to sleep. Ha! Olivia laughs in the face of "hints" from Mommy. I next felt a chubby hand patting my cheek. Eyes still closed, I started patting her back. Next, I felt a big yank on a handful of hair, along with a delighted shriek in my ear. OK, time to get up! I opened my eyes to a big gummy grin and honestly, I'd rather have that than another hour of sleep.
Speaking of sleep- what does refusing to take your nap + being extremely tired equal?
Falling asleep during your snack:





She stayed there for 40 minutes, oblivious to Avry chattering away right next to her, while eating her snack.

I got a video of her attempting to crawl last night. Avry's been crawling for about 3 weeks and I wonder if that motivated her? She had absolutely no interest in crawling. Then she saw Avry and how she could get what she wanted, when she wanted it (mainly the toys Olivia had!). She's so close- Michael worked with her last night, demonstrating the correct technique and how to move her arms. Here's one of her attempts:



Pretty funny! Now we get to find out which parts of our house aren't baby-proof. Here's her other new thing:



Standing. She's still pretty unsteady, but that doesn't stop her. She needs a crash helmet! It's funny to watch her at our coffee table. She's still pretty small, so when she stands next to it, her head is below the top. Kind of defeats her purpose, but she doesn't seem to mind.

Well, we have a nice uneventful day planned. It's supposed to be 81 today, so I think we'll go to the park and take some pictures (surprise) before her My Gym class. Hope you're having a good day!

Blizzard, take 2.

Yes, another blizzard. I took this picture around 3:00 (2 hours ago) and we have at least 2-3 more inches now. We're under a Winter Storm Warning until tomorrow afternoon. In other words, it's going to snow all night! The good thing? It's supposed to be 70 here Monday, so this snow will be gone in no time!

Olivia has mastered the pincher grasp. She can now pick up Cheerio parts and get them in her mouth (usually). She is quite proud:



I think it's impossible for me to take a video and not sound completely ridiculous. Just turn the volume down, it's much nicer!
I can't believe she's 8 months old. Everyone that told me time goes by faster when you have a baby was correct. I wish it would slow down a little...



I love this picture:



She's covered in strawberries and ready for bed! She loves her Daddy.



Do they look alike or what?

She had blackberries for the first time this week- she loved them! She does well with fruit, although she doesn't eat much.



She was in a GREAT mood yesterday. Here she is at her My Gym class:



She also started pulling herself onto her hands and knees. I'll have a video of her crawling on here soon!

We'll have more snow pictures tomorrow! Have a good day!

Happy Easter!

We've had a cold, gray, rainy day for Easter. I really wanted to make some pictures of Olivia outside, but the weather wasn't cooperating. I just might put her dress back on if it's pretty tomorrow!



How sweet is this dress? I had another dress I bought for her before she was born. However, I got a 9-12 month size, thinking we'd have a big baby (Michael and I were both big babies!). It was HUGE on her- she's still in 3-6 month clothes. Instead of running to the nearest store, I looked through her closet. I had been saving this dress for a special occasion and since it was cold, it worked perfectly! A really sweet woman I went to church with in TN (and Mom still goes to church with!), Melissa, got this dress for Olivia. Her children (now teenagers, unbelievably) always looked fabulous at church and I hope this made her proud! :)



It has a matching hat, too!





Here she is chewing on her comb. She was getting tired of pictures.



See?



I'm almost afraid to type this, but she stayed in the nursery at church for the whole service! That's the first time I've been out of her sight for more than 20 minutes in about 4 months. Incredible. They had some good toys, I guess!
She got lots of goodies from friends and family back home that she's been happily playing with the past few days. What did we get her for Easter, you ask?



Yep, a high chair. I'm really looking forward to Easter baskets in the future, but for this year, we got her something she really needed! She was much more interested in the toy that came with it. I also got her some really cute clothes at the outlets this weekend. I can't pass up a good sale! While we were shopping Saturday, we visited the Easter bunny. Once again, she surprised me by not crying! He had huge yellow buttons and she was trying her best to get one in her mouth. The pictures turned out cute! She got her very own bunny ears, too.



Unfortunately for her, I got a new camera! I love it and I'll love it even more as soon as I figure out all the bells and whistles. Poor kid, as if I didn't already take a ton of pictures...







She really loves music. Brett and Rachel got her this great toy for Christmas that she really started playing with this week. Well, Avry started playing with it, so Olivia got interested. She's started kind of bouncing to the music. The doorbell rang almost as soon as I started filming, but I got a short clip.



One last thing! This sweet girl is turning 5 Tuesday!



She is having her family party Tuesday night and I wish we could be there! This will be the first birthday party I've missed. I flew home last year in time for her party. We were at her little sister's party in December, but we couldn't manage it right now. Here she is dressed as Snow White when we were home the beginning of February. Olivia was crying and she dressed up to make her smile:



She is so sweet and we love her dearly (especially Olivia!). Happy, happy birthday Maggie! We wish we could be there!

Little Monkey's Bizness and Spring wishes...

Well, the snow melted fairly quickly (except for our front yard. We probably won't see grass there until June- the sun barely hits it). However, this is what rolled through Thursday:




Thunder, lightening, hail, and snow. A "white-out" is what the news called it. Interesting, for sure! I've never seen thunder with snow.

I usually lay down beside Olivia until she falls asleep for her naps. She still takes 3 naps a day, usually an hour to an hour and a half each. She was doing really well at letting me slip away when she was almost asleep until this week. She started "checking" to make sure I was there. She reaches out her arm and if she can't feel me, she opens her eyes. If I'm not there, she starts crying. I noticed her doing it at night a few weeks ago, but I was always there and she went back to sleep. Yesterday I hit on this:



She feels the pillow, eyes stay closed, she stays asleep. Perfect! Except I'm not too sure how I feel about her mistaking me for a lumpy pillow... maybe Mommy's doughier in the middle than she thought...

We went to a great place called Little Monkey's Bizness on Friday. We met our friend Yarles and her son Caden. Yarles' husband (Steve) and Michael race cars together (the remote control kind). Little Monkey's Bizness is an indoor playground for little kids. You have to be under 6 to play. They have a coffee bar for the parent's and a sectioned off place for babies. Olivia isn't crawling, so they didn't even charge me for her. Pretty nice!
Here she is with Caden. He's 19 months.



That's the "why aren't you holding me" look.

She loved spinning this thing. And notice she's letting Yarles hold her! She was fine with it in small increments. Hey, I'll take it!



Here's a quick video of her playing. She started pounding her chest when she's excited last week.



Nothing like a good nap to put you in a good mood!





We're going to keep wishing for Spring:



and chewing on apple slices (she loves them!):



Have a good day!